# Is breakfast cereal a kind of soup? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 11, 2011, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-breakfast-cereal-a-kind-of-soup/599331 "2011-10-11T18:19:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-breakfast-cereal-a-kind-of-soup/599331/21 "2011-10-11T20:32:25Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Yes, but if you have prepared noodles and prepared chicken broth and add them together, you just made chicken noodle soup. What’s the difference? Because broth doesn’t come from a cow’s teat? Because chicken was involved in making the broth. Yes, that sounds weak to me too. I can draw dividing lines, but there will always be exceptions to any line I draw because there’s just so much variety to food. I mean, I could say that soup is anything with a soupy consistency, but neither grits nor oatmeal nor cream of wheat are soups despite being very soupy. I could say it’s the presence of grains, but wild rice soup exists (and is very tasty). At this point I’m really inclined to say that cereal isn’t soup because it just isn’t, and you know which is which when you see it. The English lexicon does not semantically group cereals with soups, just as pancakes are not the same as a layer cake nor are tacos the same as sandwiches. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-breakfast-cereal-a-kind-of-soup/599331/22 "2011-10-11T20:36:54Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **Dahnlor** : > I believe both of the definitions definitely exclude cold cereal, and probably hot cereal as well. > > Both quoted definitions say that the dish is made from made with “(boiling) meat, fish, or vegetables” in “stock (or water)”, while cereal is made by pouring cold milk over dry grain products. Something like oatmeal or cream o’ wheat probably also doesn’t qualify since the end result is still entirely grain (soaked in water, but not floating in a liquid base). The definitions say “typically” or “especially” with meat or vegetables. Which in turn implies that there might be atypical soups which lack those ingredients. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-breakfast-cereal-a-kind-of-soup/599331/23 "2011-10-11T20:38:17Z")
Okay, that’s fair. It was just a thought I had (or re-had, to be exact). When I was a young kid some thirty-odd years ago I distinctly recall drawing a parallel between the Alpha-Bits cereal I had for breakfast and the Campbell’s Alphabet Soup my mother served me for lunch, though I didn’t really give it all that much thought, being 5 or so at the time. I thought about it this morning for some reason, and did the math on it, even though it’s been at least a solid decade since I’ve actually eaten breakfast cereal, and decided to put it up for discussion. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2011, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-breakfast-cereal-a-kind-of-soup/599331/24 "2011-10-12T14:55:45Z")
Are mashed potatoes “soup”? Does it matter if you add gravy? I’m stuck on “a liquid dish” or “a liquid food”. Cereal isn’t liquid. The _milk_ is liquid, but milk is not a soup. At best, breakfast cereal is a grain-based dish with a cold milk sauce. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2011, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-breakfast-cereal-a-kind-of-soup/599331/25 "2011-10-12T15:00:52Z")
What about Rocky cracking three eggs for a quick shot of liquid nourishment à la cup of soup before his morning run? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2011, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-breakfast-cereal-a-kind-of-soup/599331/26 "2011-10-12T15:48:34Z")
Hot oatmeal is a cereal, and it’s probably fair to call it a breakfast cereal. And it’s sometimes called _porridge_. Perhaps a cold cereal with milk could be classified as a porridge-gazpacho. The origin of the word _porridge_ notwithstanding, does everyone want to classify porridge as a soup? If so, then a milky bowl of Froot Loops is soup. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-breakfast-cereal-a-kind-of-soup/599331.md?page=1)